Reports from the Front Line: Pennsylvania Republican Primary

We started out from the gates from July.of last year intill the primary with planting all different sizes of Ron paul sign's....Every saturday a 7 hour sign waving day with different issue signs,and passing out slim jims and dvd's...Plus the good old fashion door to door visit's and phone calls..We also had a big Ron Paul funraising event for our delegates.

"Observe the masses,and do the opposite."

We spent the last week "painting the town paul" around Pgh City and it was worth it! We made tons of calls for delegates, and informed citizens that Ron Paul was still in the race. All this was done 100% by volunteers and we got a higher % than any other state.

Also, a quick congrats to Robert Tamburo who will be going as a delegate to the national convention!

Possible advice to the next states in the primary:
Get republican calling lists and call all the people you can to let them know that Ron Paul is still in the race and inform them of what delegates they can vote for in the primary (depending on their district), given citizens can vote for delegates in your primary (each state is different). Most of the time, no one pays much attention to delegates. They just want names and a quick description of why that delegate is a good choice.

What we did in PA which worked out well is called people and didn't always link the delegates to Paul. On answering machines we often left something along the lines of, "I'm calling to remind you that the primaries are coming up on [date]
and encourage you to vote for the delegates that have sworn to uphold the constitution, etc...so in addition to your choice between Ron Paul and John McCain for the presidential nomination please remember to vote for these delegates [delegate names]. Please jot down their names so you don't forget and take them with you when you vote on [date of primary]".
This way you are letting people know that Ron Paul is still in the race and you are letting them know about the delegates and giving them a good reason to vote for them. Also, you are not associating the delegates with paul in case the voters support McCain and vote for someone else to spite him. If someone does in fact say they will vote for Dr. Paul, by all means specify about his delegates!
I realize that sometimes delegates are bound, and some states don't vote for them in the primary. Look this info up and see what your situation is!

Another important thing to do, which we could have used more of, is have volunteers at the polling locations on election day. I realize this is hard if the primary is on a weekday but it is very crucial, especially for the delegate votes. Creating simple pamplets/fliers for the delegates and having volunteers organized to hand them out at high turn out poll locations is your key to getting those delegate votes (if this applies to you)! Get to the polls for your primaries and it will make a difference.
If not useful for delegates it will still make an impact with voters when it comes to Ron Paul!

Lastly, regardless of your delegate situation, is the signs. Go around the night before and put as many signs as possible at all the known polling locations (you can find them online) and get directions. Get a group and split up and go around to different districts, areas, etc and get those polls covered. If you do that people voting at those polls will know Paul is still in the race do to the signs placed there. In PA Huckabee was still on the ballot but there were no signs for him at the poll locations. If signs are at the polls everywhere that helps indicate a person is still running.

Hope this helps! Good luck in your primaries!

Well, I got lost and went to the wrong building but when I finally did get there (my first time voting, plus I am new to the town) there were two women and one man working the polls, and two women voting democrat. One of the women started extolling those stupid diebold machines, saying how convenient they are and that the paper ballots were a pain in the a**.

*sigh*

Finally it was my turn to vote. I think I wrote myself in about eight times lol. The choices for the local and state politicians were deplorable, quite frankly and I wasn't about to vote for the lesser of two or so evils. It was pretty sweet that Ron Paul was the first political candidate I've ever voted for, and I didn't have to hold my nose while doing it!

My husband worked the polls all day, I was there when I wasn't working. Unfortunately, we came in 4th and 5th, the winning top three spots going to longtime politicianss. One RP supporter won an alternate delegate spot. And a few dems wrote in RP. Several people requested campaign materials and I gave away a few signs and limited edition buttons

The people at the polling station were very gracious and accommodating, I have lived here most of my life and knew many, or they knew my family. When one mentioned that she was a patient of mine, one of the old guys asked me if I was a nurse. When I said, "No, I'm a doctor," (chauvinism is alive and well in this small town) he became very nice and bent over backwards to be helpful to make up for his faux pas.

We were allowed to watch as they downloaded the results. My husband and I were both surprised at how long it took the machines to register the results. Even with my super slow computer, I could have downloaded the trivial amount of data in less than the five minutes or so it took the voting machines to do it. Curious.

I was at a precinct near West Chester whenever I could get the chance -- before work, during lunch, late afternoon (before my daughter's softball game) and after 7:30 (after my son's little league game). I'm a single dad, but I did what I could.
Two Rep. party committee people were inside at a table with their sample ballots, but they weren't handing them out, they were just sitting there. After hearing what happened in Delaware County, I decided to fly under the radar and hand out the delegate sample ballots outside the door. Later in the afternoon, two Rep. party folks were talking outside (I had given one of them a sample ballot thinking he was going to vote). The guy from the inside table told him that he saw about five Republican voters all day up till then. Either he was being sarcastic or he was asleep at the wheel, because I handed out around 50 sample Rep. ballots over the time I was there.
I could hear them trying to figure out what to make of me. "Maybe he's a Huckabee supporter, or for that other guy, umm, Ron Paul." But to my surprise, they never approached me.
At 8 PM, the old Rep. committee guy gathered up the McCain and other signs he had posted along the driveway. He put them in his car and walked by me with the RP sign I posted. "Here's a relic from the past," he said to me. I think he wanted to see if I would claim it. Being in stealth mode, I just responded, "Yeah, how about that."
Imagine, a old McCain supporter calling Ron Paul a relic from the past. :-)
I'm hoping that we get at least one out of every three delegates in PA. Then we'll make an awesome showing at the convention. I definitely think that our next move should be to get more of a presence within the Rep. party. Then we can sit at the inside table!
Brian

that there are at least 545,000 sheeple in Pa. that don't mind being told they have no choice. To see the Keystone State reduced to this is an affront to all our forefathers that have sacrificed fortunes and lives to promote the very ideals that these jackasses don't think twice about relinquishing. We really have an uphill battle folks and must step up the efforts to expose this farce and make these idiots realize just how close to collapse this noble experiment in freedom is.

Again, many thanks to our fine Pennsylvania patriots for their hard work.

This song is for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HOc9WVZbts&feature=related

Ran for committee person in my precinct (Marple Twp. in Delaware county, Ward 4, Precinct 2). We had sample ballots with our RP delegates on the back for each precinct where we had commitee people candidates (7 total wards, and three precincts per ward I think). The Delaware Co. Republican machine decided to strong-arm a judge into signing a court order declaring our handouts illegal, all done yesterday afternoon. Some in our RP meetup found out about this last night, but I found out around 8 this morning when constables served the court order to us and confiscated our sample ballots. Our guys were hard at work already in court and we had our stuff back in around 2 hours. But it gets better; out of the 3 precincts in my polling place, the two voting machines where I was on the ballot malfunctioned. One apparently jammed early in the day (but we didn't find out until after polls closed) and the other spit out all sorts of extra tape but still reported results. the jammed one had one thick line of black where everything printed all bunched together. So that machine has to be examined. Wonderful, isn't it? The whole experience was absolutely disgusting. And I had to deal with my slick greasy commissioner all day... he was helping the competition and they were hanging out right in front of the door instead of 10 ft. away as they should have been. Didn't complain though b/c I wanted to keep them far away from me.

In the afternoon the pollwatching was more cordial. The local machine avoided me and I avoided them. The democrats were still glad to talk to me.
In my precinct we came out with most of the alternate delegates winning and the delegates getting respectable numbers. Ron Paul took about 15% of the vote.

Afterward at the party I learned that more people had better success despite the local GOP trying to force an injunction on our campaign materials. By the way, the machine's top lawyer were defeated in court today by our law student! Our law student went to court and defeated the the injunction. The Local Machine does not know what to do and is running scared.

To finish the night I got my copy of "The Revolution: A Manifesto" as well as the current issue of the Republic Magazine. We've only just begun.

Well, we took 14.2% in our county and 1 out of 3 delegates in our district. Not sure about the alternates. Not to shabby. The delegate is from my meetup so that's cool. We worked hard and will continue because we have no choice. "Let it not be said that we did nothing." ~Ron Paul~

This makes no sense! He dropped out!
But what if there is election fraud?
So McInsane should be a 110%.
What if RP actually was 25% of the Republican vote?
Then you have to dilute it!

All this voting was on electronic machines.
I vote the whole thing is a con.

RP is popular. RP WILL WIN!
Go delegates, you will win for us.
Hardcore, grass roots. You/we rock!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrHmwiMgE74
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01kcqKd2Tag
Watch and feel the power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To all the people that put up signs in Pittsburgh, Awesome Job! These were big 5'x3' signs by the look of them and they were all in very prominent locations. Other than that my rural polling station was only manned by the few people actually working the polls when I got there. No supporters to be seen. I did see another car with a Ron Paul bumper sticker when i was leaving though. That sure brightened my day. Anyway keep up the good work everyone. I keep on spreading the message of freedom and limited governement wherever i can find an ear.